Commonly, a hard disk drive used as an auxiliary memory for a computer is made up of a head/disk assembly (commonly called HDA for short) and a printed circuit board assembly (commonly called PCBA for short) for controlling the head/disk assembly.
The head/disk assembly includes a spindle motor for revolving a magnetic disk at a regular speed, and an actuator serving as a carriage for actuating a head to read and write data to or from the magnetic disk. The printed circuit board assembly includes various kinds of electric circuits for controlling the spindle motor, the actuator, the head, and the like. Such a printed circuit board assembly is electrically connected to the head/disk assembly via a connector.
Further, the spindle motor, the actuator, and the head have respective input/output connectors for permitting a signal communication between the head/disk assembly and the printed circuit board assembly. For example, the signals communicated between the head/disk assembly and the printed circuit board assembly include a current signal applied to U, V, and W-phases for the spindle motor and a voice coil motor, and a head signal for a read/write operation. Such signals are generally communicated through the connectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,733 for an Electrical Connector That Is Fastened to a Hard Disk Drive Housing by Pins That Extend From a Housing and are Inserted Into Corresponding Connector Apertures to Knighton et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,175 for a PCMCIA Type HDD Connector Mount to Beecroft each disclose connector pins used in the assembly process of a hard disk drive. U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,779 for a Disk Drive Memory Card Electrical Interconnect to Diel discloses curved connectors used in the assembly of a hard disk drive. I have found that conventional design practice as represented by the foregoing references fail to provide connectors that automatically electrically couple the head/disk assembly to a printed circuit board when mounted together.